Episode One - One Way Trip. Pandora Banks' Team.

[Pandora Banks]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1252 Zulu

Pandora turns to face the group that has assembled near her - led by Evans, whose bandaged head immediately singles him out in her viewpoint. She surveys them quickly, and tries to get her bearings in just a few seconds. It doesn't quite work.

All guys? Seriously?

But, from behind McCallister, a little, pixie-like female face peers. In fact, Pandora would have believed she was hallucinating some sort of elf if it hadn't been wearing uniform. And was pushing a little on McCallister's back, trying to get a better place to stand. The pixie's name is apparently Johnson, according to her badge, which is bouncing on her excited body. Pandora is surprised she hasn't met the girl before, perhaps bouncing along the corridors and off the ceilings.

"Right then," she says, and it is all she can do to stop herself rubbing her hands together like some sort of evil genius. Sure she is civilian leader, but she hasn't really led anyone yet, not here in the Stargate program, and never before in her life, if you didn't count University group work. Considering the number of broken telescopes she had on her conscience, maybe the team should be a bit cautious. "You heard the General, lets head off."

The stairs lie a few yards to the right, and Pandora leads the way to them, darting nervously. She can feel the eyes of her mostly military team on her, skeptical, but none are as piercing as Tony Hansford's. She gets the feeling that, as well as being a girl leading a group of men, she hasn't quite been forgiven for solving the scanner problems on the ship. A male ego isn't easily stitched back together.

As they reach the stairs, and begin climbing into the gloom, a familiar bound head bobs up beside Pandora. Evans looks none the worse for his tumble down into the invisible Meropis, if indeed that is what this place really is, and he soon jogs up to keep step with her.

"How's the head, Evans?" she says, trying not to smirk. It'll take a lot for him to get his macho guise back.

>>>Tag Evans, rest of Pandora Banks' Team [see Meropis Exterior for allocations]>>>

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown section
1253

Oddly enough, despite his paranoia, Raiden and Jacob were possibly among the few that didn't particularly care if they had a female leader, let alone one that was civilian. They knew full well everyone had very different backgrounds and abilities, and any one of those aspects could allow a person regardless of the gender to get it together and take care of a group. Raiden wasn't much of a leader himself, usually that focus on leadership was with his job, otherwise Jacob was a far better, more natural leader than he.

As they walked away from the other group, he felt another female bump into him once or twice, trying to push between him and Tony, likely out of excitement. "Well hi." Raiden said with a shy smile as he made sure to give her some room. He had to watch out for those walls-his left shoulder grazed the left wall as he side stepped amidst his steady but prompt walking pace to give the female some room. "Hello Colonel, sorry 'bout that, some of these hallways are kinda tight when you're trying to get to the front."

Raiden smiled briefly. "By all means take it, I'm the kinda guy that usually lingers in the back or the middle. I'm sure Banks would appreciate some female company as well." he replied, walking with Tony. "Thank you, sir."

(I have a little idea for one of the twins but I gotta wait a few posts to see what else happens, if needed I'll PM people.)

[Tony Hansford]

Meropis
Unknown section
1254

Tony was the only person who seemed completely out of place on this expedition, wearing his rather overpriced Armarni suit with a combat vest over the top. His mind had caught up with his body at this point and had worked out where he went wrong in the sensor department, getting the rest of the city to bow down at his feet wouldn't be that hard, he'd spent too much time learning Atlantis from head to toe.

As he walked besides Raiden, one of the military personnel he'd met aboard the ship, he decided to engage in friendly conversation. "So Raiden, whats your plans now we're on this Oh so fantastic holiday location?", he says with a sarcastic smirk on his face, he noticed Pandora looking back at him and he just gave his piercing eye don't mess with me look with a massive grin on his face.

[Tag: Raiden]

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown section
1255

"I don't have much planned yet actually, but I'm going to scope out as much of this place as I can so I know exactly how it's laid out, makes my job easier in the long run. I can determine all its strategic weak spots and improvise it so those weak spots seem to disappear. If it means a lot of cameras, that's not impossible, all it would require is getting approval and the equipment. That's the first thing on my list. The rest? All depends on just how complex the layout of this city really is. I for one never went to Atlantis, but from what I've seen, I have a butt-load of work ahead of me. And from what I understand, the main control center at Atlantis is really nice, it may only need a few adjustments for the sake of security protocols, you don't want to mess with technologically Ancient cities like these too much after all."

The way he explained it made it seem a little confusing, at least to some. It also seemed like it might be less to do than he seemed to make it. Regardless of however one saw things, it was still an important task, which required heavy duty surveying, and that aspect about it was one of the more time consuming factors about the first line of responsibility he had to undergo here.

<Tag: Tony, anyone else in the group>

[Pandora Banks]

Meropis
Unknown section
1256

Pandora can hear the men mutering behind her as she reaches the top of the stairs. Some stuff about how they're planning to deal with this new place. Trust the military to immediately approach it with a detailed set of instructions and planning. As for Pandora herself, she is opting for the "wander in and see what happens" approach. Maybe not the safest, but it seems to work for her, whether it be im exploring a new place or working out a new piece of programming code.

She walks a little further along the dingy hallway, as it appears to be, to allow the rest of her team to ascend to this first floor. A series of shadows line each wall, shaped like doors and archways. At the end of the hallway, the darkness is almost absolute, but Pandora can just about make out a dim archway, leading into another room which seems large, an echoing half-globe.

"Right, it appears we've got quite an area to explore here." she says, and the rest of the team take this cue to stop and listen. Well, nearly all. Hansford is shuffling from foot to foot, head down and bobbing gently, as if dancing to music in his head. Perhaps that is more interesting to him than what she has to say. Mentally, she shrugs, trying not to care, but her nerves are cranked up another notch.

"I think we should split up again, just to explore each side. McCallister, Cafferey and Hansford, take the left hand rooms, just check them through, note anything interesting - technology, arms or creatures, whatever you find there. Johnson, Austell, Evans and me will take the right hand side. OK?"

There are a few nods, a few smiles, and a few blank expressions. But they split as they are told, and together they enter the first rooms.

[Dominic Evans]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1257

Evans plodded along with the rest of the group, weapon raised with the torch live and shining in all the nooks and crannies, you can't be too careful. He heard Pandora try to start a conversation with him and merely grunted a response. He was too busy shaking off the fall he took coming into Meropis. I suppose it could go on report that Warrant Officer Steve Evans, First Class was the one who discovered the Ancient city of Meropis! They didn't have to put exactly how he discovered it, merely that he did. Pandora had ordered the group to split up and examine the various rooms leading off this corridor, a good idea too as you never knew what creepy aliens could have been hiding up until now.

Steve took to the side Pandora was referring him to and approached the first doorway, he stood to the side of the doorway before suddenly throwing himself round the corner shining the light around the room, looking for any sign of life. None, thank god for that. He lowered his weapon then realized what was actually in the room. There was a very crude, rough version of the control chair in Atlantis, half assembled and stowed away neatly against one wall. Several containers and boxes were also lying around. He turned and left the room,
"Looks like storage in here, nothing exciting other than a really fat ancient must have sat on that broken control chair in there"
He had tried to lighten the mood by making a quick joke. A couple others had moved past him and were now examining the contents of the next room along, he noticed the guys on the other side of the corridor were making equal progress with the security sweeps. There were some fine soldiers on this expedition, Evans relaxed a little knowing that if there were any ancient creepy creatures left behind they wouldn't stand a chance. He was keen to get moving on to find out what was in the big room at the end, hopefully the light switch! Darkness never helps any tense situation.

<Tag Pandora's Search Unit>

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1257

Lucas said nothing but did give a slight nod; just enough to let Pandora know that he had heard her order/suggestion.
Glancing to Raiden and Tony, Lucas fixed them both with an 'all business' stare. Because Raiden and he were the same rank, Lucas couldn't order the man around; nor did he in fact want to, but what Lucas did want to do was be by himself for the present.

The place just creeped him out; perhaps more than it should have.
The darkness was all around them; to some darkness was darkness but to Lucas the darkness seemed heavy with foreboding; almost as if something; some unseen terror was going to jump out at them at any moment.

"Right. Colonel, Mr. Hansford, I'll take the rooms on the far left and work my way back this way," Lucas said, gesturing back towards their current location, "I suggest that you perhaps start at the other end and work your way towards me."
It was only a suggestion; they didn't have to do it that way if they didn't want to, however Lucas didn't wait for a reply.

He walked past Raiden and Hansford, towards the far left corner of the hallway. He arrived at the first doorway, using touch alone to determine that there was no earth style doorknob. Feeling along the side of the wall closest to the door Lucas discovered a small button about the size and shape of a Scrabble board piece.
Pushing the button down Lucas heard a lock disengage seconds before he heard the door in front of him slide open.

Reaching in to his pocket Lucas withdrew a small flashlight, flicking it on once he was in the room.
He didn't know what he was really expecting to see; dead bodies, charred flesh, perhaps blood on the ground and walls but he didn't see any of this. Instead all he saw at first was a circular thing in the middle of the floor. The thing was silver white, about the shade of a pearl, though when you touched it, it was feathery soft and seemed to retain even the slightest amount of body heat with ease. Lucas guessed it was a bed, given the fact that it was 6ft in length and at least 10ft in width.

Walking further in to the room Lucas saw a small archway leading into a side room. Heading that way Lucas shined the light from his flashlight in to the room and what he saw caused him to do a double take. There were small chambers built in to the walls; reminiscent of the morgues found in the hospitals on Earth.

Taking a deep breath Lucas entered the room, going to the first small chamber. Laying a hand on the small metal knob, Lucas turned it which caused the chamber door to open.
Inside the small chamber was a glowing stone that looked eerily like crystals that had been glued together..

Reaching forward Lucas discovered that the stone was generating heat; not enough to burn whomever held it, but it certainly made for one heck of a hand warmer!
Picking up the stone, Lucas stared down in to it, trying to see what was generating the heat and light but he was unable to. Looking up, Lucas saw white spots in his vision; courtesy of the glowing stone and for him to be dumb enough to except to see clearly in a darkened room after staring in to a bright light.
Shaking his head, Lucas moved to the next chamber door, wondering what was behind it. This room was certainly turning out to be the weirdest room he had ever seen.

<TAG: Open>

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1258
Evan went to the left, as he hadn't been mentioned in the orders. It only made sense to him that he would join the smaller splinter in order to keep things more even. And when this team splintered even more he stayed with Caffery, keeping them even.

He walked along the corridor with flashlight in hand, scanning for biologic signs mainly. He kept the flashlight in his left hand so that his right would be free to defend himself, hopefully he would have time to draw his sword. But vigilance would give him warning, so he stayed alert.

He turned and walked into the next room from the end. Cautiously he opened the door. As he walked into the room he felt a somewhat familiar ache, well not really an ach more of a tingle, in the joints of his left side knee and shoulder. Which could only mean some sort of electromagnetic field.

He was just glad that the technicians who had made his limbs had enough forsight to shield them against EMP's. Using his limbs as a sort of "diving rod" he found the highest concentration happened to be the center of the wall furthest from the door.

He stepped back a bit and got out an EM scanner, confirming his "sense". Evan looked around more, scanning the room for anything else. It seemed to be bare, except for the Electromagnetic energy. He spoke into his comlink.

"Nothing in this room but a pretty high EM signature. It's most heavily concentrated at the rear wall. Should I move on or investigate this room farther?"

<Tag anyone in the group>

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1259

Raiden took a good visual scan of the area. The room looked like it cut off here, but there were a few 'impressions' on the wall in the form of matrices, fairly even box patterns spread through out all the walls. Squinting at some of them for a moment, he pondered over the option of saying 'just turn around', but obviously hesitated. "Interesting, Lieutenant. Well, Colonel Cafferey, what do you think? It looks like a dead end, but...the structure might indicate otherwise." he said, having noted what Evans said about the energy signature.

<Tag: Lucas, Evan>

[Dominic Evans]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1300 Zulu

Officer Evans had done his room, he leaned against the wall in the corridor while everyone else took their designated rooms. He let his SA-80 hang down on his strap, leaving the torch pointing diagonally at a random patch of floor while he felt around in his pockets. There it was, he took out the packet of gum and selected a piece. Sticking it in his mouth as his watch ticked over to 1300 Zulu.

Steve didn't care much for what the others were up to, as long as they did their bit. Then the squad would move on to the next room, which seemed to be a huge one just down the corridor. He was just there in case either anybody needed shooting or detaining. Something caught Evan's eye. A bug scuttled into the small circle of light illuminated by his gun's torch. Spider! Pesky thing, Evans stomped on it and squashed it flat, smirking to himself. Steve 1 - 0 Spider. He chewed happily whilst leaned against the wall, glancing over as Pandora attended the team in the last room. They had found some sort of energy reading or something exciting... Steve Evans yawned and sighed wishing them to hurry up.

<Tag Pandora>

[Deleted]

Meropis
Unknown Section
1301 Zulu

Lucas had taken just a few moments to think about the question.
"Looks can be deceiving Colonel. I say we keep looking." Lucas replied evenly.

He had exited the room he had been in, barely hearing Raiden's question to him.
"Besides there are still several rooms that haven't yet been searched."

Lucas couldn't explain it but he felt distant; not exactly out of body but it was almost like he couldn't control his feelings, his words or his actions.
In his pocket he still felt the warm stone so he wrapped his left hand around it once more; the heat warming him up nicely.

Stepping forward, Lucas stopped in the middle of the hallway. He felt pressure in his head; almost like the beginnings of a headache but different.

"Well...actually...perhaps we should rejoin uh...." Lucas paused, trying to recall the name of their leader, "Pandora..."

TAG: Raiden, Open

[Deleted]

1301

"Fine by me Colonel," Raiden replied with a shrug, pivoting around. He glanced around at the walls one more time though, unaware of what would be thrown at them next.

Before he left the room completely, he waved Evan over and glanced at Steve, raising an eyebrow, having noticed him jump briefly and stomp on something. At that moment, he reminded him of Jacob a little when spiders were around. "You okay, Evans?" he queried.

<Tag: Steve, & everyone else>

[Dominic Evans]

Unknown Sector
Meropis
1301

Steve glanced up as Raiden spoke,
"What? Uh.. No.. Just a er... bug... ya'know, can't be too careful, don't want anybody to get bit now do we?" It was a rhetorical question, Steve Evans thought fast to cover his tracks and not admit he was just plain terrified of spiders and had stomped on it as a natural reaction. The team had begun to regroup and head onward in their search of some sort of power source or control panel. As they walked forward Warrant Officer Evans felt the room expand around him in the darkness, something about it told them they were in a very large space. He listened as Pandora issued a few more commands and people split off to examine sections of the room.

He was supposed to be a soldier, guarding the group, keeping alert in case aliens rushed out and attacked that sort of deal. But Steve could not restrain himself from wandering slightly away from the group. He found some stairs leading up in to more dark and gloom and decided to seize the opportunity,
"Hey er.. Pandora, check this out..." She approached him and also noticed the stairway leading up to what could be a first floor. She paused to think and then proceeded up the stairs in front of him, stopping a few stairs up to half turn and notice Evans was simply watching her and not actually ascending the stairwell.
"Well... Shall we?" She said. Something in her tone of voice suggested to Steve that he had done well, Pandora was being nice to him, that has to be a result in this Officer's book. They walked up the stairs, the only light being Steve's torchlight fixed to the top of his SA-80 rifle. He turned to see if he could see anything through the gloom, he just saw the others torches and lights scanning the room, the light seeming to catch an occasional hint of gold, and heard a thud followed by a groan of pain from... Raiden? He shrugged it off, it was easy for anyone to fall or walk into things in this amount of darkness.

Pandora and Steve had moved to the right at the top of the stairwell into some sort of other room with a glass front overlooking the larger room, it appeared to have a number of consoles covered in cloths. Evans looked sideways to Pandora giving her a wink,
"Bingo!" She smirked at him as they both slowly made their way into the middle of the room. Evans approached and removed a cover from one of the consoles allowing Pandora to inspect it. She stood thoughtfully in front of him and then reached out a hand toward the panel.
"I think..."


Gate Ops
Meropis
1312

'I think' would indeed be terrible famous last words. In this case it might have been very unfortunate indeed had Warrant Officer Steve Evans not been at Pandora Banks' side to shove her romantically to once side. She had placed her hand upon a large circular pad to the left side of a very long console, which proceeded to light up. At this point several things happened at once. The lights in the control room came on, console by console, spreading down the stairs and into the room that was now seen to be holding a golden Stargate and the rest of Pandora's team. At the same time the very building itself seemed to begin shaking, as ancient conduits surged with power once again and the city roared to life. Another small but important event that occurred at this point was that a strange gas expelled itself from four vents, three placed in the high corners of the gate room and one placed directly above Pandora's head in the middle of the control room. Evans lunged and pushed her to the ground as the vile green gas poured out for about five seconds before shutting off and allowing it to disperse itself naturally throughout the air. Pandora and Steve lay there coughing, this cannot have been good.

The shaking subsided. Evans noticed blood on the floor from where he had coughed voilently, he tried to get to his feet but stumbled, having become extremely dizzy, the world was a blur. He almost went, but gripped the console firmly with both fingerless gloved hands, allowing his weapon to swing on it's strap. With a forceful pull of strength he managed to get back to his feet and gaze through the glass at the others in the Gate Room. Catching his breath he had to think fast, this was not good, this was not going as they had planned. He tried his radio,
"Warrant Officer Evans calling Brigadier General Sir." He waited. No response, he tried again. Just static. Evans shook his head,
"Crap."

<Tag Pandora & the team>
<Joint sort of post with me and Pandora, full permission to use her character as I did>

[Deleted]

<Meropis
Gate room, near the stargate
1312 to 1313>

Raiden was on his knees with a thud before he knew it. What the frak, a random earthquake? Luckily the room was more sturdy and very few tiles fell as it began to shake and shudder. Alarmed by the gas, Raiden curled into a fetal position of sorts with his knees on the ground, hands covering his face. This position also allowed him to keep him from moving too much.

Peeking towards Pandora, he noted her original position before the power surge. "Interesting." he thought nonchalantly, his surprise masked by the dizziness he felt. Over all though, he wasn't that surprised now that he knew what this room. The whole gate room seemed to roar to life. At least they could see now. Getting up, he stumbled forward, a wave of dizziness occurring as he tried to take a step, and he buckled under his own weight. "Urg." he grumbled, once again getting to his feet, successfully this time.

Raiden took a few careful strides towards the Stargate, practically bumping into it since he couldn't see it's shape right away. He grunted lightly before backing up a tad and leaning against it. "Well, at least we know where the Stargate is now, and we can see." he said to no one in particular once he was standing to one side of the Stargate.

<tag: Pandora's group>

[Deleted]

<Meropis
Gate Room
1314>


Lucas had been in the Gate Room with the others when the world started to shake; at least that's what it felt like! The ground bucked making standing almost impossible until...it just stopped!

As the rumbling stopped a hissing could then be heard coming from somewhere in the Gate Room.
Eyes roving around the room, Lucas's attention was quickly drawn to the gas that was being vented in to the room.

~Okay...earthquake bad, gas...worse.~[/i] Lucas thought to himself.
Resisting the urge to take a deep breath, Lucas just began to hold his breath even though he didn't have a huge oxygen intake to begin with.

Swallowing with a suddenly dry throat, Lucas turned towards the opening to the Gate Room. Every fiber of his being was telling him to get out of the room but the gas was all but gone now; surely it was safe to breathe again...right?

Looking back towards Raiden and the Stargate, Lucas took a chance and took a breath; mainly because his lungs were burning; begging him to continue breathing.
"We all okay?" Lucas asked, using his radio to communicate with all of the team.
While the radio reception wasn't great, Lucas figured they still should be able to hear him given the fact that they were in close proximity.

TAG: Pandora's Team